Wingello Ride 13-6-04 with Kim, Wayne, Jeff, & John

Kim (WR426F) and Wayne (XR600) met Jeff (WR250F) and John (KTM250 2 smoke) on the Wilton/Hume Highway intersection at 0730 and proceeded to Wingello State Forest.

Riding began at 0920 after Wayne had fired up the XR by shooting flames out of the Staintune !

The ride began through the pine plantation to a four wheel drive track, taking a bypass around logging operations. The boys decided to implement the corner man system after Kim and Wayne momentarily lost John and Jeff. The track proved very loose, with some riders struggling to ascend the hill climb from the creek. I saw close up that a two smoke can dig a rut as deep as the thumpers ! Also John tried hill climbing on only one wheel, it was either bog down or flip the bike, fortunately he chose the former.

On the way back to the cars for lunch, we met a group of about ten riders. Jeff shouted out - "I recognise those ears !" to one of the riders. If you have seen this rider at the Michelin Trail Rides (the one with all the body piercings), you will know who he was speaking to and what he meant !

Kim took on some hill climbs, on the last one he stopped about two metres from the summit (the sun was in my eyes, that's my story and I'm sticking to it !). The boys then dragged the WR the rest of the way up onto the track, so he did ascend the hill.

After lunch the boys played around in the gravel pit then headed out onto some fire trails. On a downhill section the unmentionable happened to John's KTM, and he had to change the sparkplug when the engine died ! All week preceding the ride John had avoided mentioning the sparkplug in case he jinxed it, but this strategy unfortunately failed on ride day.

On the way back to the gravel pit Kim and Wayne had to take evasive action to miss an oncoming white van that was sideways on a corner. Each rider then took turns leading on a mini enduro loop.

 
The boys packed up and left at 1500 after an enjoyable day out. The weather was cool but sunny and the tracks were loose but not too dusty.

Jeff says his WR will last three years without a rebuild, he admits he revved it to the limiter when riding during the day so we will see. 

Kim Bazley